KARACHI: Two more Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) men Monday surrendered to police for their alleged involvement in the murder of Intizar Ahmed in Defence Housing Authority a couple of days ago.
Police have also found a girl who was accompanied by a victim inside a car at the time of the incident but the police have yet to record her official statement to make it a part of the investigation.
Intizar Ahmed was shot dead late on Saturday evening at Khayaban-e-Ittehad after the officials and personnel of the Karachi police’s specialized cell – ACLC allegedly fired at vehicle, killing a victim on the spot.
Though police had claimed that the boy was killed in an act of targeted killing by at least two armed assailants riding a motorcycle, it was later revealed that the ACLC officials and personnel were behind the brutal murder of Intizar Ahmed.
Hours after the killing, Darakshan police arrested six of the nine ACLC men as the remaining three had been went into hiding. On Monday, two more ACLC cops surrendered to police while one was still at large.
Police investigators have also obtained the CCTV footage of the incident while police believed that the only two or three personnel were behind the murder, giving advantage to the remaining others.
“The CCTV footage of the incident is with police and eight of the nine police personnel named in the case have been arrested,” Zone South police chief DIG Azad Khan said while sharing the developments with the reporters at a press conference on Monday evening at his office. “The CCTV footage suggests that only two or three personnel had opened fire on a car.”
The DIG admitted that the ACLC personnel were in plainclothes at the time of incident. “ACLC police squad comprised on nine cops were deployed there at the time of incident and they were in plainclothes,” DIG Khan admitted. “They should not be in plainclothes and they should not open fire.”
The police have also found a girl who was accompanied by a victim inside a car at the time of the incident and remained unhurt fortunately. The police have also recorded her initial statement. In her initial statement, the girl who was a friend of the deceased told the police that she did not see the shooters due to the intensity of the firing. “I was with him (Intizar) but the firing was so intense. I was unable to see those who resorted to indiscriminate fire,” the girl whose identity has yet not been disclosed revealed. “I was scared. I used a rickshaw to leave the scene.”
Police officials said that the police have yet to record her official statement as she was the witness of the case and her identity could not be revealed to protect her. “The girl appears to have no link to the incident. Her initial statement has similarity with the footages shown in the CCTV cameras,” DIG Khan explained. “We will record her formal statement to make it a part of the investigation later.”
Deceased Intizar was the only child of their parents and was studying at a university in Malaysia after completing his O and A levels from the City School, in Darakshan. He had been returned to Karachi in November, last year for his winter break.
Published in Daily Times, January 16th 2018.